Monday, January 28, 2013

Signs & Plans - Plans & Signs Design Wall Monday

Yeah, I know.... my quilt design wall looks different than most quilters I know. But gosh - I'm one of those "paper" quilters. You know the kind. . . .I need to plan out everything on paper before I even touch a piece of fabric. Now that doesn't mean the plans won't change along the way but at least I have a direction to get started in.

That's what I spent time doing this weekend. I managed to finish drafting the next block and enlarging it to the size I want with my overhead projector. Then I used my light box and an acid free marker to transfer the design onto the fabric. Much easier than using the Saral tracing paper. I really love my light box. It was a gift from my husband who made it to my specifications and saved us a ton of money since they can be quite pricey!

I also went ahead and picked out the next block I want to do. With the sketch all done , it will be ready to enlarge and trace next.

So last week with Sandy's help, I came up with a plan on how to display these stitched sign blocks. With that in mind, I really needed a layout that I could follow. I mean, it wouldn't do to just do the sign blocks willy-nilly and then work the background around them. So I graphed a rough - rough draft.

With all that "paper" work done, the quilt needed the over- all theme. When I originally thought out this project I envisioned all these little sign blocks being unified with one big sign theme. Great idea right?? But what's a good theme. After a bit of prayer and research I came up with Luke 21:25:

“There
will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be
in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. "

Now how that theme is going to work in I'll leave as a surprise - but of course I do have that planned out already!
See more design boards at Judy's Patchworks!

I would have just jumped in and slapped it together willy nilly until I found the setting I wanted to use. Isn't it funny how everyone has their own way of working this decisions? I am working on a t-shirt quilt that I am making different sized blocks for. I lay them out and then fill in the spaces.